Future of the Environment

3 reasons we should all care about biodiversity

A rainbow is seen over a tract of Amazon rainforest which has been cleared by loggers and farmers for agriculture, near the city of Uruara, Para State April 22, 2013. The Amazon rainforest is being eaten away at by deforestation, much of which takes place as areas are burnt by large fires to clear land for agriculture. Initial data from Brazil's space agency suggests that destruction of the vast rainforest - the largest in the world - spiked by more than a third over the past year, wiping out an area more than twice the size of the city of Los Angeles. If the figures are borne out by follow-up data, they would confirm fears of scientists and environmental activists who warn that farming, mining and Amazon infrastructure projects, coupled with changes to Brazil's long-standing environmental policies, are reversing progress made against deforestation. Environmental issues will be under the spotlight as a United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Warsaw, Poland on November 11. Picture taken on April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Nacho Doce (BRAZIL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT POLITICS SOCIETY AGRICULTURE TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 53 OF 55 FOR PACKAGE 'AMAZON - FROM PARADISE TO INFERNO' TO FIND ALL IMAGES SEARCH 'AMAZON INFERNO' - GM1E9BB1FJ301

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is having devastating effects on biodiversity. Image: REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Johnny Wood
Writer, Forum Agenda
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Mangrove trees are pictured at the small community of La Tirana, about 110 kilometres (68 miles) from San Salvador August 3, 2012. Because of its location as a thin strip of land between two oceans in a tropical zone, Central America is one of the regions most vulnerable to greenhouse gases. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimates that the area stands to lose $10 billion over the next four years for this reason alone. The damage is not confined to El Salvador, Central America's smallest country, but also its neighbours. Across the region, large tracts of mangroves have also been destroyed by the shrimp and hotel industry, the cultivation of palm oil and sugarcane, as well as salt fields. According to a FAO study, Central America's mangroves as a whole declined by 35 percent between 1980 and 2005 in terms of hectares. Honduran mangroves decreased by 56 percent, Nicaragua's forests by 37 percent and Panama by 32 percent. Picture taken August 3, 2012. REUTERS/Ulises Rodriguez (EL SALVADOR - Tags: SOCIETY ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS) - GM1E8B2054R01
Image: REUTERS/Ulises Rodriguez
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